A QUICK CHAT WITH ALIVAN BLU

What was the inspiration behind your latest track ‘Southern Sun’?

We drew inspiration from the early sounds of Ben Howard & Bon Iver, We wanted to create a raw percussive song with a lot of build and a pulling storyline. The song is based around my (Anna’s) experience of moving to Australia when I was younger. I grew up in a small town on the south coast of England. 

When I was 17, I packed a backpack and my surfboard and migrated to Australia by myself, leaving all my friends and family behind. The song represents the emotions of missing them and being so far away from them. Also, the realisation of how young I was when I completely shifted by life around and wondering where I would be had I stayed in the UK. Since I was 17, I never looked back and in the midst of writing this song I felt very grateful for the life I had lived in the UK, even though I knew my life is now in Australia.

How did you two meet and get to making music together?

6 years ago, I (Anna), went to the local pub and Jed was playing a cover gig. Jed was a local in the town we now live and I had been living there for over a year before I met him, even though we surfed the same break every day!

We connected really quickly and two months later we were living together. We decided to go travelling and our first stop was Sumatra for two months, (A small island in Indonesia). 

Here, Jed taught me how to play the guitar. I had never picked up an instrument and did not know I could sing at this point. 

We then travelled through India and onto the UK, where my family lived. During this time we wrote some songs together and I started singing. We went to a music festival there and decided to go busking because we were really broke. I knew how to play 4 chords but Jed was really supportive and we were just doing it for a bit of fun. We made $4, but that was the moment we realised we wanted to go back to Australia and start booking gigs together. That was just over 4 years ago and since then it has been our full time job and we have travelled nationwide and internationally touring our music together.

What’s your favourite show you’ve played so far?

Our very first headline show in the Gold Coast, we had been reluctant to do our first headline tour for a while but we quickly sold out 450 capacity at a venue we had dreamed of playing for a long time and the crowd was amazing. We have also played some amazing festivals like Splendour In The Grass, Creekfest and Roadtrip shows which have been really fun!

You’ve been on tour quite a bit this year - what’s your biggest tip for staying sane when travelling?

We give each other space when we need it. Anna has been running the cities every morning before the sunrise which keeps her sane, lots of reading and relaxing in-between shows. Every morning we go out for coffee in all the different locations which is really nice. Touring goes by so fast but all the travel gets quite stressful so you just need to keep calm and go with it.

What show are you binging at the moment?

If we are being honest, we haven’t had time to binge any shows lately! Normally we love to have a series on the go, the last one we watched would have been Vikings, Valhalla.

What was the first concert you ever went to?

Anna - First show I can ever remember going to was when my dad took me to watch Oasis at the O2 arena.

Jed - Mum and Dad took me to go watch loads of country singers whenever they came through the little town we lived in the outback, the first one I can remember was Adam Harvey. The first big one I can remember was probably Pearl Jam in Brisbane in 2012.

What can we expect from an Alivan Blu show?

We try to bring a blend of upbeat folk bangers to get the crowd dancing and singing along, alongside some slow heartfelt songs to keep the shows as intimate as possible. We have been bringing along our friend Sam Cashman for some lead electric and mandolin which has been really fun jamming on stage with him. 

We are two fairly introverted people but really feel at home on the stage and every show we are so thankful for everyone there. We put our heart into every show and hope the crowd can feel it.

Which album do you have on repeat right now?

Our soundtrack for this tour has definitely been Noah Kahan, all his music is incredible. 

What’s in store for the rest of the year?

Touring as much and as far as possible! We intend to go as hard as we can in 2023. We have been working really hard in the studio and have lots of new music to share. Southern Sun is the first track of our debut Album which will be dropping next year!